


Vitamin E

by walkwithursus



Category: The Sopranos
Genre: Extended Scene, F/M, Fluff, Season/Series 06, Slice of Life, canon-divergent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-20
Updated: 2020-07-20
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:40:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 558
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25398559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/walkwithursus/pseuds/walkwithursus
Summary: Carmela lets certain things fall by the wayside during Tony's stay in the hospital.
Relationships: Carmela Soprano/Tony Soprano
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	Vitamin E

“Come here.” Carmela pats the space beside her on the bed. 

Tony glances over at the invitation, his eyebrows lifting momentarily and then furrowing as the meaning of her words sinks in. Sheepishly, he tosses his crumpled shirt behind him. “No, uh, I’m still not ready for that. Last time I thought I tore something from tensing my muscles.” 

Carmela clucks her tongue. “No,” she says, and she turns briefly to grab a large bottle off the bureau. “I got something for that scar.”

“Oh.” Tony kicks his pants further into the closet behind him and approaches the bed, undressed for the night. Carmela throws the covers back for him and Tony settles carefully in beside her. 

Carmela shakes a large brown pill out onto her palm before replacing the bottle on the nightstand. She pops the capsule with her thumbnail and lets the oil dribble out into her hands. Tony lifts his tank top up over his chest, and Carmela begins to dab her fingers across the ugly zipper imprinted onto his skin. 

“Vitamin E,” she explains as her fingertips circle his wound. “My facialist said it will help get the red out.”

Tony nods silently and watches the progress of her hands. Carmela’s touch is firm, yet gentle, and it mesmerizes him to watch the oil seep into the rigid pink flesh of the scar. After a minute he breaks the silence:

“What’s wrong with your nails?”

“My nails?” 

“Yeah.” Tony gestures toward them to make her look. They’re short and plain and bitten toward the quick, a far cry from her usual colorful talons. 

“Oh, God,” Carmela says in understanding, and she pulls her hands away, curling her fingers into fists. “Don’t look at them, they’re a mess. I haven’t been to the salon in weeks.”

“I can tell,” Tony ribs, his face cracking into a boyish, chubby-cheeked smile. 

Carmela gives him a look. “Now don’t start. Jesus, next you’ll be telling me I need to fix my hair while I’m at it.”

“Well, now that you mention it. You could stand to cover up a few of those grays,” Tony says, and he reaches up to tug a lock of hair out from behind her ear. Carmela swats his hands away and covers her temples with her hands, fingers tucked to keep her nails hidden. 

“Stop it, now, I mean it.”

_“Stop it, now, I mean it,”_ Tony parrots the words back at her and pokes her in the side. She wrenches away, but he continues undeterred, tickling the side of her neck and under her arms until she’s squawking with laughter and gasping for air. They come apart at last to lie back against the pillows, flushed and smiling. 

When they’ve caught their breath, Carmela says, “It didn’t feel right to go to the salon with you lying in that hospital bed. The nails just kept growing out and growing out, and all I could think was, ‘who am I doing this for? If you’re not awake to see it, then what does it matter how they look?’”

“You sure you just couldn’t find a minute to get away?” Tony asks, his tone still teasing. 

Carmela shoots him a look and yanks his tank top back down over the scar. “That too,” she says, and she turns and switches off her bedside lamp.

**Author's Note:**

> Carmela actually did have her nails done in this scene, but I thought to myself, wouldn't it be soft if she didn't?


End file.
